HC gives Haryana time till December 31 to notify reserved forest in Morni Hills
The Punjab and Haryana high court has given the Haryana government time till December 31 to identify and notify reserved forest area in Morni Hills. The court criticised the inaction by Haryana government in not completing the exercise even as notification was done in 1987. (HT File)
'The Morni Hills are serving as the prime green cover, acting as lungs for the tri-city of Chandigarh, Panchkula & Mohali. Indubitably, the authorities are required to take a decision, one way or the other, regarding completion of the process which begins with the issuance of notification under Section 4(1) of the 1927 Act and culminates upon a notification issued under Section 20 of the 1927 Act,' the bench presided over by chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Sumeet Goel said while adding that the forest secretary of the state would file a compliance report about the same within seven months. '… failure wherein may invite punitive consequences (as per law) for the officer concerned as also other functionaries,' it added while fixing the second week of January, 2026, for filing the compliance affidavit.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed in 2017 by one Vijay Bansal, a Panchkula resident, who had demanded settlement of the area as prescribed under the Punjab Land Revenue Act, 1887. The area was formerly a part of the Sirmaur district in Himachal Pradesh and became a part of Haryana in 1966. In December 1987, the government issued a notification of reserved forest area. However, the process of demarcation has not been completed even now, the plea had said.
The court made it clear that demarcation and survey is to be done by the forest settlement officer (FSO) and not by the revenue authorities, as being claimed by the state government. The appointment of FSO was made in 2018.
The court criticised the inaction by Haryana government in not completing the exercise even as notification was done in 1987. 'To permit nearly four decades to elapse without any discernible, substantive action flowing from a statutory declaration is, to put it mildly, an affront to the principles of effective governance and a manifest failure at the end of officers, both statutory and Constitutional. Such inaction on the part of such officers, particularly in a matter of such profound public importance, merits the unequivocal condemnation of this court,' the bench observed, deprecating 'in the strongest possible terms, the protracted official lethargy and its discernible unwillingness to discharge its solemn responsibilities' of identifying the area.
The court has now directed that the FSO be handed over all the documents regarding demarcation and survey which are in the possession of the revenue authorities, forest authorities and Survey of India and he be provided with requisite facilities and infrastructure to enable him to make inquiry, entry, survey, demarcation, and prepare map and acquire land so that reserved forest notification is issued and published in the official gazette by the given deadline.
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